Experiment X Failure
by Create-tion
Summary: Tony Stark has seen numerous weapons materials go missing over the span of a couple years. It has caught the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D as well. Coulson gets close enough on his manual watch of the person believed to be stealing the materials, he gets a shock. Nothing is what it seems when it comes to the mysterious fiery haired girl...nothing...straight down to her name: Howlett...
1. In Good Time

The rain pelted the back of the girl's hoodie as she walked. They could see the trace outline of where she'd stuffed her hands neatly inside her pocket at the front. Since they'd started watching her, her trips had become infrequent. She'd gone out less. Moved less. The girl had been trying her best to drop off the map. It was obvious that she knew she was being watched, so she was either not concerned, or she wanted the attention. Coulson was waiting for the girl to make her move. On Tony's mark they would have her blocked and locked down. He stood just at the end of the alley she was walking in, beyond the reach of a street light, hidden deep within the shadows watching. As she neared, he heard her sniffle from the cold night air. She raised her hand up to her nose as if to scratch it just as she passed him.

There was a high pitched buzzing noise. Coulson saw two light blue glowing orbs covering her ears.

"I'm really sorry sir. I'm not ready yet." She said nearing him. He felt his body go tight, draw upright before he lost control. He slumped back against the brick wall behind him as she put her hands around her shoulders trying to help him from hitting his head. Coulson recognized the device she had in her hand, the trigger, as one of Stark's earlier inventions that cause small bursts of paralysis. He could do nothing but watch as she moved back away from him. She slipped the device back inside her pocket and took the small earbuds out.

"I can't get too much into what I'm doing. I'm just trying to tell you…" she whispered biting her lip. There was a certain level of determined desperation in her wild amber eyes.

"S.H.I.E.L.D has to back down." She whispered. "Give me time. I'm not going to hurt anyone." She scraped back wet soggy red curls from the side of her freckled cheeks, trying to stuff them back into the hood she wore.

"Just give me time. I'll return what I took." She helped him to the ground and smiled softly, hesitantly, as if afraid someone would hear her.

"When you see me again, my answer will be yes." She smoothed out his suit jacket where she'd sat him down. He could tell something was off about her. The movements of her eyes were darting and quick. She was expecting something or someone to be following her other than him. This kid was something else. It vaguely reminded Coulson of himself when he'd been younger, except this girl had more options available to her than he did at the time.

The sheer fact that she'd been able to infiltrate Stark Industries and work for Tony for almost two years before any real red flags had gone up were pretty much all he needed to know. Tony had actually been her saving grace. S.H.I.E.L.D had discovered multiple boxes of various Stark assembly products that had gone missing over a long period of time, almost matching up exactly to the girl's employment dates. Coulson and Fury had obliged to move in tandem to track the girl and take her into custody during the course of a twenty four hour period. It had been almost instant. There was no missing around since Ultron. There probably never would be again; the world didn't have time for that. The Avenger's didn't have time to deal with communal bullshit. Those who posed any kind of threat to mankind needed to be in custody.

"I'll be able to help if you just give me some time." She said standing up looking down at Coulson.

"Just…time. I need…time." She backed away from him glancing around. As she dissipated into the shadows Coulson thought about the bracelet that had been hanging around her wrist.

It had been a small silver chain link band with a military nametag attached.

The name on the band wasn't hidden so at least they had something to go on now:

 _Howlett,_

 _Lucy, X._ **

_a few weeks after_

Coulson stood over the computer screen from which Natasha had pulled up old files pertaining to Logan. It had been a while since Coulson had gone digging around in these kinds of files, after agreeing to leave most well enough alone for the mutants to handle by themselves unless needed, he hadn't looked into their business much. However, the name Howlett had been on that young girl's bracelet. They needed to understand why. Natasha was typing away at the keys like the furious deadly woman she was as Coulson set the cup of coffee down for her. She felt around for the edge of the handle as he scooted it closer to her in time for her fingers to clasp it instead of thin air. She side glanced up at him smirking. It was good to have Coulson back, even if it was temporary and only once when the planets were in alignment, which was a gross exaggerated statement. The problem was, that to the world, Fury and Coulson were dead. For a select few of the Avenger's they were trusted and alive but hard to reach. Coulson had come out of hiding to bring the information about this young lady to light because he and Fury had feared the worst from Stark's weapons…again.

"Anything significant to detail about this girl?" He asked yawning from the night before. He'd spent seventeen hours straight trying to evade a world eruption of mass nukes between three countries.

"Well, I can tell you she's not Logan's kid." Natasha shrugged. She took a long drag from her coffee cup. "She's not related to him at all. Nothing in her files, which by the way are mostly destroyed or encrypted, mention any relation to Logan at all."

"Then there has to be something else." Coulson sighed. "She wouldn't have that name without a reason…" he trailed off looking over a file Natasha had pulled up from a military base computer in Texas.

"What?" Natasha asked watching the way the gears were turning inside the man's brain.

"X…Howlett and X." he stated as if that made sense.

"What about it?" she asked.

"We need to get ahold of Professor Xavier." Coulson said reaching for his cell phone.


	2. A Heavy Burden

Lucy sat with her hands firmly clasped in her lap as she listened to a biogenetics speech being given in a three hundred person study hall. It was a prestigious event, a prestigious school, the kind that Lucy should have been able to go to. She was smart enough. She always had been. It hadn't been a mistake that she'd made it inside Stark's company with one interview and her faked transcripts. She'd conjured them up from files that she'd pulled and matched to other various counterparts of her experiments other secret identities. Everyone had their own place now, save a few, and none of them wanted to go back. She'd made a fake life for herself just after running. It had been crude at first, with minimal access to computers and without the complete codes to hack her old files, Lucy had done the best she could. However, within months, after battling the after effects of the mutations, she'd been able to leave her hole in the wall apartment for the first time. She'd made do with money she'd illegally tapped from the government's facilities that she'd come from. Given the fact that the entire country had gone apeshit after the whole Ultron disaster, no one was really paying too much attention to a few thousand dollars moving here or there from any secret government agencies. In fact, many offshore accounts and agencies not directly working for the CIA had simply fallen off the maps for the time being to avoid court litigations and legal battles with the public. The people had wanted answers and they had just let S.H.I.E.L.D take the fall.

As the man in the wheelchair spun across the stage, his voice echoed with a resounding quality that left Lucy's head reeling. She would have to move before the lecture was over. She would have to show everyone what was really happening, what was left in the mess of Experiment X. She was ready to expose what had happened to her and others; the very real threat that they posed. She'd worked so hard, practicing the perfection of her powers, she was ready to show him. She knew he'd understand. He'd be the only one that would understand. If she exposed herself to anyone else, she would be a national security threat and biohazard. They'd kill her on sight. She also knew that she was beyond the control level where she could teach herself anything else. There was literally nothing more that she could practice and test on her own without the assistance of others with experience in this field. It had all been too dangerous before now.

Lucy could feel the pull of the energy she'd stored up for the show bubbling up beneath her skin. It was beginning to itch like a thousand crawling ants nipping and biting just under the surface. If she didn't unleash it soon, it would start to ache. The ache would begin to turn into a throbbing pain that would start just under her ribcage and radiate outward and upwards. The last thing that the pain would strike was her heart. It would shock the valves and explode like an envious filtering lie trying to escape the truth. It would pump hard and fast, jolting like a battery with too much juice, and before Lucy could stop it…the pent up energy would just…explode.

As her brain thundered around the her built up ability to contain the pain that was starting, Lucy twisted and turned her fingers around one another trying to keep her attention on anything else.

She'd have to act quickly…before he recognized her mind…before he was able to read her ability. Lucy knew better than to give Professor Xavier the chance to hear her thoughts. She knew he was always reading and looking for mutants.

Lucy mustered the strength to concentrate long enough to put up a wall. She formed the wall slowly inside her mind, protecting it, encasing it. As she did, she continued to pull and tug at the hem of her sweatshirt sleeve trying desperately to keep herself grounded and attentive to the lesson. She had to remain in the appearance of a normal student until the right moment. The pain began ebbing its way up under her ribs. Lucy bit into her lip trying. The student beside her glanced in her direction. He furrowed his brow. She'd be given away soon. He was trying to get a read off of her. She felt the push of his telepathy knocking just against her own. He wasn't strong enough to break her wall but he could feel it.

"Hey…are you…." He started to ask her. The boy could see a light sheen of sweat breaking on her forehead where small bits of stringy red curls were beginning to stick. He trailed off watching as she wrung her hands nervously in her lap, her body was tense, and the boy knew instantly that something was very very wrong.

He raised his hand.

"Professor?" he called loudly above Xavier as he spoke. The man stopped and turned his head gently to glance up to where the boy called.

"Yes?" he called.

"Something's…" the boy started before Xavier's eyes narrowed. He put a hand up softly and motioned towards the exits of the hall without a much gesture. It was calm, all very calm. He was trying to keep control. It was as if the man's eyes were boring deep inside Lucy's mind. He had targeted in on her. She had a mere moment before he'd break her wall.

"Everyone please move towards the exits of the hall in a calm manner please." He stated.

"There's not time for that." Lucy said as he breached her wall inside her mind. She stood up quickly and threw her arms out wide.

"There's not time for any of that. I have to show you." She spoke loudly enough that he could hear her but she wasn't screaming. His telepathy could feel the fire in her words as they licked against the sides of her emotions within her head.

"You don't have to do this." Xavier told her. He was trying to back her down without using his full powers on her; everyone had a choice.

"Yes. Yes I do. I have to show you." She whispered.

There was an indescribable boom that echoed across the campus from deep within the classroom base floor where Xavier had been speaking. Buildings shook, windows busted shattering into the streets, there was a heavy cloud of dust that had erupted and was floating into the sunlight settling over the street. Paper which had scattered in the explosion littered the sidewalk in shreds covering the pavement. Bodies laid strewn where the blast had thrown them. Blood smeared the charred remains of the obliterated lecture hall. Lucy stood, bathed in a glowing proverbial light, hovering over where the stairs were once but no longer were. The boy who had been standing next to her had been blown nearly ten feet into part of what was left of the stairs to their right. It had been one of the exits. There was no movement from his body. He was badly burnt.

Xavier reached for the edge of the stage he'd been sitting on, trying to pull his body away from the mangled chair he was now tossed in.

"Why?" he said angrily biting off the words in his voice.

"I had to show you." She whispered. Her eyes shown like crystalline lakes, radiating energy, like the rest of her body. She was enveloped within a blue-like orb of power that had caused the blast. It had been similar to a small contained nuclear bomb.

"You killed all those innocent people." He snarled.

"I needed time." She began moving towards him, floating down the empty space she'd exploded to meet the man on the stage.

"I just needed time…"


End file.
